High-speed rewinder machines are used in the paper industry for producing consumer sized logs or rolls of bathroom tissue, paper towels, and the like, from large parent rolls of the material. The smaller logs are then cut transversely into individual consumer rolls of a desired length. The industry is continuously seeking ways and devices to improve the operating efficiency and reliability of such rewinder machines. It is critical that rewinder machines operate with relatively great precision and reliability while the web is moving at high speeds.
However, a web break can greatly reduce the maximum output from a converting line. The majority of web breaks that occur in a converting line are caused in the rewinder head area. A web break may lead to severe equipment damage as well as downtime associated with thread-up delays.
A significant problem with current systems is that they are designed for and focused on making process adjustments after a web break has already occurred. Such conventional systems do not take into account certain predictive characteristics indicating that a loss of web control is imminent.
As a result, while existing systems have been employed to cut-off the web to limit damage from breaks and wrap-ups, existing systems are unable to anticipate or predict a web break until it has already occurred.
Accordingly, a need exists to minimize the severity and associated downtime due to web breaks or web wraps in the converting line by limiting the amount of sheet that can be involved in a break.
A need also exists for a system that would maintain sheet control through the majority of the converting line during a web break or web wrap in the rewinder area. It follows that a need exists for a system that reduces damage to equipment and that reduces clean-up time for web breaks.